Bolt-machine



J. A. EDEN, JR. BOLT MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 14, 19l9.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

V Mai/70R James fife/en, Jr

, ATTORNEY J. A. EDEN, JR. son MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR-14,19I9.

Patented Dec. 7,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' I E James/4 Ede/7, Jr.

Br %M/d/, ATTORNEY caused UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. EDEN, JR., OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO WALTER H. FOSTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOLT-MACHINE.

Application filed April 14,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. EDEN, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing in Springfield, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bolt Machines, of which the following is a specification.

thereof 5 Fig. 4 is a plan of the parts shown'in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan of the chuck or block which holds the head of the bolt;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation and Fig. 7 is a vertical section of the same.

Referring to theembodiment of the invention illustrated, the machine comprises a bed 2 and upright guides 3 between which a cutter-head 4: (or it may be a die-head) is guided up and down by means of slides 5 at opposite sides thereof. A blank 6 is carried with its lower head held in a block or chuck which rotates the blank. The cutterhead is lowered either by gravity or by mechanical force and the cutters therein are contracted to engage and turn the blank down to the desired diameter as it rotates. At the bottom of the blank, or when it has been reduced for a sufficient length, the cutter-head is expanded so as to withdraw the cutters and permit the head to be lifted above the blank so that a new blank maybe substituted and the work repeated.

The general practice heretofore has been to provide a squared (or otherwise polygonal) head on the lower end of theblank and to simply drop this into a correspondingly shaped socket in the rotating block or chuck. There is necessarily a certain amount of play in this engagement andtheoperator holds the blank upright until the cutter-head engages it. The blanks are roughly shaped and sometimes bent so that the cutters, en gaging only the upper end of the bolt, have it to wabble to such an extent as to Specification of Letters Patent.

1919. Serial No. 290,071.

produce a conical shape on the upper end instead of the true cylindrical shape desired. After the cutters have passed downwardly sufliciently to engage a considerable length of the blank they will hold it truly vertical and will produce a proper cylindrical shape.

My invention provides means for bold ing the blank central so that a true cylindrical form will be cut from the beginning of the operation. For this purpose I provide arms 7 located slightly above the head 8 of the blank and arranged to engage the blank and hold it truly central. Each arm is radially adjustable to accommodate dif ferent sizes of bolts, being fastened by a clamping bolt 9 in a grooved and slotted holder 10 whichis fixed on the top of a post 11. On the several posts 11 there are carried arms 12, 13, 14 and 15 connected to each other by links 16 in such a way as to turn the several posts and to swingthe centering arms 7 inward to operative positions or outward therefrom, all the arms moving together. A bracket 17 fastened on the arm 14; is connected to a spring 18 which at the opposite end is connected to a pin19 on the fixed frame 3, this spring tending to throw the lower end of its stroke the bracket 20 and its link will be forced to the left and this motion will swing all the centering arms outward to their inoperative positions against the pull of the spring 18 and will hold them there.

A ring 22 provided with depending lugs or bosses 22 is fastened to the base of the machine by means of bolts 23 screwed into the base and carrying-on their upper ends fastening nuts 23%. The elevation of the ring is determined by spacers 23 placed under the lugs 22*. The posts 11 which support the centering arms pass through the hollow posts 24:, and springs 25 are arranged to press the posts 11 up, the limit of their upward movement being determined by collars 26 fastened on their lower ends and striking the underside of,the ring 23.

On. the side of one of the posts 24: is pivoted a locking pawl 27 (Fig. 3) with an arm Patented Dec. 7, 1920. t

' the several centering arms 7 inward to their 28 which is pressed upward by a spring 29. The arm 15 on the top of the corresponding posts llis provided with a shoulder 30 (Fig. 4) in such a position that when the centering arms are thrown open by the cam as above described the pawl 27 will spring up andits side will be engaged by the shoulder 30 so as to preventthe arm 15 from turning back and thus to hold all the centering arms open.

In inserting a blank the operator will hold it upright with one hand and will lower the V cutter head down onto its upper ends, which will generally be slightly tapered and rounded as shown in dotted linesin Fig. 1 so as to be quickly centered in the head. He will then snap in the centering arms and the operation will continue as usual. As the head comes farther down on the blank the centering arms 7 will be unnecessary. They must then be thrown out of the way so as not to interfere with the work of the turning cutters on the blank. This will be accomplished by the cam 21 and when the centering arms are thrown out they will be caught and held by the pawl 27 even during the subsequent rise of the cutter-head. This is necessary to facilitate the withdrawal of the turned'blank and the quick introduction of another. As soon as this has been done the operator will press the finger piece 28 and withdraw the pawl 27, and the spring 18 will throw the centering arms in again to hold the new blank. The extent to which the arms 7 are thrown outward is indicated for one of these arms in dotted lines at 7 Fig. 4. This is sufiicient to clear the chuck and leave complete access of the cutters to the work in a radial direction. But they are still in a position to interfere with the lower part of the cutter-head and for this purpose these arms and. the posts on which they are mounted and the several connecting parts will be pushed down as the head is lowered, the springs 25 yielding to the desired extent. As the head is raised the springs 25 will restore the posts and the parts mounted thereon to their working vertical position.

Theimperfect results obtained with previous machines are due to some extent to the imperfect centering of the head on the blank. Supposing the head to be out of center, the holding. of the shank central will mean that the head has to be moved laterally to some extent under control of the centering means, and I provide a block or chuck which permits such movement of the head. In Fig. 5 I show ablank 6 which has a hexagonal head 8. The block in which this head rests has plates 31 with straight parallel inner edges adapted to fit the sides of the head 8 soasto allowfno substantial play between them, and has alternate plates 32 spaced apart sufiiciently to allow a considerable play of. the head between them; These plates 31 and 32 are fixedly mounted on a.

head 33 having in its lower face a groove engaging a tongue 34 on a plate 35 so as to permit transverse movement of the plate33. That is to say, referring to Fig.5, the head of the bolt may move to the right or to the left without affecting the block in which it is carried and it maymove forward and backward carrying with it the entire block 33 as the latter slides on the'tongue 34.

The axis of the cutter-head and that of the chuck are arranged in line with each other so that during a cutting operation there will be practically no lateral movement of the blank. Assuming that the head of a blank is out of center with the body of it, the body will still rotate on an axis coinciding with that of the chuck and the cutterhead. And the head of the bolt will not move laterally in the chuck but will simply rotate around the axis of the body of the bolt. The center determined by the centering means coincides with the axis of the cutter-head and chuck so that the body of the blank will be placed in the right position in the beginning, and the head of the blank if out of line will find its proper position laterally in the chuck. As soon as the work is engaged by the cutter-head the rotation of the chuck will cause a tight frictional engagement of the side faces of the blank head and also of the side faces of the tongue 34, and such frictional engagement will resist any tendency to lateral movement, holding the head fast and holding the body of the blank with its axis practically immovable during the cutting operation.

The plate 35 may have a rigid connection with the constantly rotating spindle 36 of the machine, but preferably ithas a clutch connection therewith, as illustrated. On the top of the spindle 36 is a member 37 fastened thereto by pins 38 so that it rotates with the spindle. The plates 35 and 37 have ratchet teeth on their adjacent faces so that when they are brought together the plate 35 will be continuously rotated, but when separated there will be no driving pressure on the plate 35 or block 33. The plate 35 is fastened on a spindle 39 passing down intothe hollow bore of the spindle 36, having a collar 40 engaged by a spring 41 so as to press the spindle and connected parts upward, the collar 40 engaging the hub of the member 37 so as to limit said upward movement. During a turning operation the blank is pressed down and the block 33 is kept clutched in with the spindle -36 so as to insure constant rotation. When the down ward pressure is released the spring 41 throws the block 33 upward and releases it from any driving pressure. This enables the operator to remove the finished blank from the machine with less inconvenience and less danger of injury to his hands than if it were being forcibly rotated.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail certain specific embodiments of my invention yet it is not to be understood therefrom that. the invention is restricted to the particular embodiments disclosed. It is particularly to be noted that the device forms a very quickly operated and convenient style of chuck or holding device for blanks of all sorts regardless of whether the blanks or the cutters are to be rotated and regardless of the position of the parts. Various modifications in the details and arrangement ,may be made by those skilled in the art without departure from the invention as defined in the following claims.

Theclutch device in the chuck is not claimed in the present application, being claimed in a separate application pending concurrently herewith.

The position in which the head of the blank is engaged by the floating chuck is determined or controlled by the centering device. The upper end of the blank is held in the cutter head. Therefore, the centering device, acting through the intermediation of the blank, determines the position of the engaging parts of the chuck during the operation on any blank.-

The centering device, since the movement of its parts is transverse to the length of the blank, works equally well with a blank having an enlarged head as with a blank not having such an enlargement.

WVhat I claim is 1. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a cutter head and a chuck having its axis fixed against transverse movement and means movable in a direction transverse to the axis of the blank and adapted by such movement to center the blank at a point between the chuck and the cutter head.

2. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a cutter head, a chuck adapted to engage the blank and means for centering the blank at a point betweenthe chuck and the cutter head, said cutter head being adapted to travel past the position of said centering means and said centering means being movable out of the way of said cutter head.

3. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a chuck adapted to.

engage an end of the blank and means for engaging the blank at a point beyond said chuck and holding it central, said means adapted to be engaged by the cutter-head and to be moved relatively to the work by such engagement.

4:. A machine for operating on bolt blanks I or the like comprising a chuck adapted to engage an end of the blank and means for engaging the blank at a point beyond said chuck and holding it central, said chuck arranged to permit lateral movement of the end of the blank in engagement therewith.

5. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a chuck adapted to engage the end of a blank and to hold it While permitting lateral play of such end and additional means for holding the blank central.

6. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of members movable inwardly to engage and center the blank and movable outwardly to permit the passage of the cutting means operating on the blank.

7. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of members movable inwardly to engage and center the blankand movable outwardly to permit the passage of the cutting means operating on the blank and a catch for holding said members in their open position.

8. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of members movable inwardly to engage and center the blank and movable outwardly to permit the passage of the cutting means operating on the blank and a catch for holding said members in their open position, and manually controlled means for moving said members inwardly.

9. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of members adapted to engage the blank and center it, a support for sald members and springs adapted to hold said support in its normal position.

10. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of arms adapted to swing into and out of engagement with the blank, posts carrying said arms and a ring carrying said posts.

11. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of arms adapted to swing into and out of engagement with the blank, posts carrying said arms, means connecting said arms to each other to cause them to swing together, a spring for closing said arms and a releasable catch for holding said arms in the open position.

12. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a centering device consisting of arms adapted to swing into and out of engagement with the blank, posts carrying said arms and a ring carrying said posts and springs holding said posts in their normal positions.

13. A machine for operating on bolt 126 blanks or the like comprising means for centering a blank in combination with a chuck arranged to permit lateral movement of the end of the blank in engagement therewith under the control of said centering means. 130

14. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising means for centering a blank in combination with a chuck and a cutter-head, said chuck and cutterhead having a common axis which also coincides with the center determined by said centering means and the chuck being adapted to permit lateral movement of the end of the blank in engagement therewith under control of said centering means.

15. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising means for centering a blank in combination with'a chuck and a cutter-head, said chuck adapted to permit lateral movement of the end of a blank in engagement therewith under the control of said centering means and to resist such lateral movement during a cutting operation.

16. A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a chuck rotating on a vertical axis and adapted to receive the lower end of'a blank and to hold the same in upright position, a cutter'head operating on said upright blank and a centering means having 'a substantially horizontal movement to center said blank at a point above the chuck.

17 A machine for operating on bolt blanks or the like comprising a chuck rotating on a vertical axis and adapted to receive the lower end of a blank andto hold the Same in upright position, a cutter head operating on said upright blank and a centering means JAMES A. EDEN, JR. 

